Friday, 19 December 2008

S-Pulse and FC Tokyo face off tomorrow for the fifth time this year in the 1/4 final of the Emperor's Cup. It's this season's last chance of silverware, and the final ticket into next year's Asian Champion's League.

Previous meetings this year have gone off like this:

League:

S-Pulse 1-0 FC TokyoFC Tokyo 1-5 S-PulseLeague Cup Group Stage

S-Pulse 3-1 FC TokyoFC Tokyo 1-1 S-Pulse

Three wins, one draw, ten scored and only three conceded. Given that three of those games took place in our poor first half of the season, with only the 5-1 mauling coming in our resurgent second half, we have reason to be confident. Losing the League Cup final has instilled an even deeper ache among the orange masses for our first title since winning the Super Cup in 2002.

The winner will go on to face either Kashiwa Reysol or Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the semi at Ecopa, in what would be as good as a home game for us at least! That being the case, you can be sure more than 6000 will turn up! That was the crowd for the semi between Sanfrecce and Gamba last year at the same venue. Not too surprising given how far it is from both cities!

Tomorrow's game kicks off at 1pm. There's no live broadcast available, but for live text, the official S-Pulse homepage does the job, as does J's Goal. Both sites are in Japanese, but you may be able to navigate around by pictures and trial and errors to find what you're looking for.

So come on S-Pulse - rewards the hundreds of fans who are heading up to Sendai for this one! Let's have a semi back in Shizuoka!

We Believe!!!

In transfer news, today Marcos Aurelio was released while Marcos Paulo has had his contract renewed. Good news, both. :)

1 comments:

Hello,I'm from Brazil and my team (Coritiba) sign with Marcos Aurelio. Why her release is a good news ? Just because the high salary ?(sorry for the poor english hehehe)Thanks !!douglas.sano@hotmail.com

League Game Crowd Watch

A Fanzine Four Years in the Making

That's four years of meaning to get round to it. Having followed the Mighty 'Pulse since 2004 and experienced enough highs, lows and last minute penalty misses to last a lifetime, it's high time we started documenting our adventures. Join us as we travel the length and breadth of Japan, seeing the sights, drinking the ales, befriending the locals, and occasionally even taking in 90 minutes here and there.

Originally consisting of one loan member sitting through a home defeat in a typhoon (without the luxury of a roof), the UK Ultras are now a fluid group of 20+ S-Pulse fans from around the world - including several Japanese! The only continent not yet represented is Africa.

Above and beyond acting as a scrapbook for our own varied misadventures, this fanzine's goal is to provide news and information to the English speaking world about a truly unique football club, and to help build and broaden S-Pulse's profile on the world stage. With thousands of visits here from all four corners of the planet, the world is clearly hungry to learn about S-Pulse, and we're happy to help spread the word.

Being a football fan has never just been about what happens on the pitch, and this fanzine is here to document all the fun and games that go along with following S-Pulse. We'll sometimes report on news other than S-Pulse which rattles our cage, but we're experts on nothing other than our own opinion, so don't take anything we say too seriously. Match reports being a good example. Wildly biased and put together on memory (it's not easy taking notes while dancing the samba), they may occasionally be lacking in analytical depth.

Other than that, just enjoy one of the wildest rides in the J. League - Shimizu S-Pulse!

Contributors

Having set up this fanzine back in April 2008 it's since taken on a life and a momentum of it's own. It's not easy to always find the time to keep the site updated, but seeing how many hits we get from around the world, the effort is worth it.

When not bouncing around behind the goal at Nihondaira, he expends his remaining football energy on the glorious Brighton and Hove Albion.

Fuz: Lives in Osaka now but her heart is still in Shimizu. Mother to one cheeky wee girl she lives in hope of getting to more games these days.

When she's not rooting for the 'Pulse, Fuz spends her footie time following the mightyGlasgow Rangers.